Perhaps It Was When I Met You
by 07Hearts
Summary: Three rules: Love the water, and it will love you back. Respect the creatures that live in it, and they will respect you. And above all, never venture towards the surface. (Mermaid!Haru, Fem!HaruxRin)
1. Breaking The Surface

This just kinda came to me and I had to do it. Enjoy!

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_ The water is alive. Once you dive in, it will immediately bare its fangs and attack. But, there's nothing to fear. Don't resist the water. Thrust your fingers into the surface and carve an opening. Then you slide your body through that opening. Moving your arms, your head, your chest..._

_ All I want is to feel the water. With my skin, my eyes, my soul... To never doubt what it makes me feel. Believe in myself. Don't resist the water. Welcome it. We accept one another..._

_ I wonder when that thinking suddenly was no longer enough. Perhaps it was when I met you... _

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__ "Love the water, and it will love you back.  
Respect the creatures that live in it, and they will respect you.  
And above all, never venture towards the surface.  
"These are the three rules we merpeople must follow at all times. They are more common sense than anything. So obvious; so simple; and so tempting to break. Take care that you never do."__

Haruka had heard these words more times than anything else throughout her life since the day she was born. And she agreed, they were common sense.

To love the very thing which gives you the ability to live was only natural. To respect the creatures that provided company and sustenance was only right. And to never approach the edge of your very own world, well, she didn't really care. All Haruka wanted to do was swim. And past that edge, past that thin divider between air and water, she couldn't do the very thing she was designed to do. Swim. Therefore, she didn't fret about never being allowed to see the mysterious world of people with things called legs and birds that flew high in something called a sky that stories told of. It didn't matter.

Why fly when you could swim?

Yet, here she was, unknowingly chasing a dolphin further up and up until she could feel the water she loved so much becoming lighter and warmer, and see rays of sunlight shining through and making the tiny blue scales of her tail glitter like a pearl. Not realizing how far she had come until the playful dolphin seemed to vanish through a thin veil, only to come crashing back through in an explosion of bubbles.

Haruka froze mere feet from the surface, her brow furrowing in confusion and slight fear as her long, black hair floated around her. The dolphin danced and circled, asking why she wasn't playing anymore, but she didn't answer. She was mesmerized. Through the thin veil, Haruka could see a blinding light like none she had ever seen before. It shone in a giant sphere right above it.

Haruka knew she should turn back. Knew she should tell her new friend she had to go home. But she couldn't. Haruka didn't know why, but for some reason she wanted to see what that light looked like from the other side.

_ And above all, never venture towards the surface._

Never before had Haruka ever thought of breaking the most important rule ever givin for her and her people to follow, but as she slowly reached a small hand above her head towards the veil deviding her world from the one above, reaching for that shining sphere, that rule became only a dull sound in the very back of her mind.

The tips of her fingers broke through, then her wrist, soon her elbow, and finally her head and shoulders. And she stared, hand reached out towards this so-called sky that she had only ever heard about in stories. Beautiful couldn't even begin to describe what was running through her mind in that moment.

Haruka's thoughts were disrupted, however, by her new friend nudging her side and making its little dolphin noise, asking why she was so interested in the sky. She blinked and looked down, lowering her arm. It was then something else hit her as well. Haruka could still breathe despite being above water.

How, Haruka didn't know, but it was interesting.

The dolphin splashed and swam past her, telling her to follow. Haruka turned to ensue and her blue eyes widened at what she saw.

There were structures of all sizes covering a large stretch of land. Haruka couldn't even begin to guess what everything was. It was amazing. The dolphin called once more and she swam over beside it at a very large, rectangular slab of smooth stone protruding from the water. Haruka hesitantly placed her hands on it to hold herself steady as she ogled amazed that these new sights. The dolphin laughed at Haruka's stunned reaction to the world above. She pouted and flicked it's nose. This caused to dolphin to merely laugh and splash off somewhere else, but she didn't mind. Haruka was too dumbfounded by all that she was seeing to care.

It was the sounds of yelling that brought Haruka out of her trance. Pulling her attention away from the new experience of watching a tree (she guessed that's what the tall plant was if the stories were anything to go by) blow in the wind and, well, wind, to see four boys coming towards her direction. They were laughing and, Haruka couldn't believe her eyes, they didn't have tails! They had-... legs! That's what those things were called. And they were-... running! They also wore strange clothing, but Haruka guessed that was to be expected since only the top half of the two species were similar.

As they ran along a good distance away and quickly passed her, the one with maroon hair slowly stopped and looked down at his... feet? Was that the word?

"What's wrong?!" One of his friends called back.

The boy with maroon hair looked up and yelled, "My shoe's untied! Go on ahead, I'll be there in a second!"

Nodding, his friends raced off while the boy knelt down and began tying his shoe. Whatever a shoe was, that is.  
Once done, the boy stood and was about to take off again when he noticed Haruka staring in the corner of his eye. He turned his head and they locked eyes for a moment. Gasping in surprise, Haruka ducked her head below the stone slab. She hadn't meant to be seen. Humans supposedly didn't know about merpeople, right? That's one of the reasons why going to the surface wasn't allowed. Haruka could dive back into the water, but she'd already been seen. What if he came over and found she wasn't there, or perhaps even saw the outline of a girl with a fish tail swimming away? That wouldn't be suspicious at _all_. Best to just keep her lower half hidden and hope for the best.

Haruka's rapid thoughts were interrupted by a curious voice above her. "What are you doing?"

Snapping her head up, Haruka was met intense wine red eyes that seemed to hold her captive. She realized she hadn't said anything when the boy's face took on a look of confusion and spoke again. "Why are you swimming in the ocean? It's the middle of winter!"

Using all her courage, Haruka managed to finally say something. "...Huh?"

The boy only looked even more confused, and she couldn't blame him. Knitting his eyebrows and shifting his weight onto one foot, hands clasped behind his head, the boy took in Haruka's appearance. Well, what he could see of her, anyway. He broke into a grin when he noticed the two blue seashells held together by a string of blue pearls around her chest that served as her top. "What's with that swimsuit, you pretending to be a mermaid or something?!" He laughed, causing Haruka to almost choke.

Taking the defensive, she glared up at the boy. "I'm not pretending." She rebuked.

"Sure, sure!" The boy teased. Squating down so that he didn't have to look down so far, he grinned and said, "I'm Rin Matsuoka! I have a girly name, but I'm a boy. What's your name?"

"...Haruka."

"Haruka? Hmm... Haru it is, then! Nice to meet you, Haru!" This earned him another glare, but the boy, Rin, merely smiled wider, if that was possible, and continued. "I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new?" She nodded. "Really? Cool! You seem to be my age, too! How old are you?"

"Twelve."

"Me too!"

Haruka couldn't quite grasp this boy. He was too excited for absolutely no reason and was loud. He was nosy, too. Plus he just have her a stupid nickname without her permission and proudly called his own name girly. Were all humans like this?

"Hey, Haru. Earth to Haru!" Rin was waving a hand in front of her face. Haruka pushed it away.

"What?" She snapped.

"I asked what school you went to,"

School? What's a school?

Haruka blinked and opened her mouth to ask what a school was when a voice sounded. "Rin! What's taking so long?!"

"Ah!" Rin gasped when he realized he forgot about his friends. "Coming!" He shouted back, before directing his attention to Haruka again. "Meet me here tomorrow, same time. See ya then!" He stood and had made it to shore when he turned back saying, "By the way, did you know your eyes are the same color as the ocean?" Before leaving with his three friends once and for all.

Haruka watched him leave, bemused. Same color as the ocean? The ocean was made up of water, and water was clear unless something added color to it. In other words, it could be any color. That boy was definitely weird.

Sighing, Haruka turned to return home herself when she noticed it. The ocean from above the surface. It was blue. The deepest and most beautiful blue Haruka had ever seen, and it glittered like a thousand gems.

_ Did you know your eyes are the same color as the ocean?_

Never before had Haruka's face turned so red so quickly as it had in that moment.

* * *

First chapter is finally done! I wrote this on my phone so I'm pretty sure I can't feel my thumbs anymore. Crap...


	2. Fish Tails

Haruka played with a lock of her hair, her mind wandering. It was only an hour until the human boy, Rin, said to meet him again. Should she go? It certainly wasn't wise. How could she be able to hide what she really was from the boy if he tried to get her out of the water? She couldn't, that's what. Yet for some reason she felt a strong urge to go, to see the sky once again and feel the warm breeze. To see the ocean from above the surface.

Closing her eyes and sighing, Haruka rolled on her side and curled into a ball, the bed of seaweed tickling her side.

"Haruka," said a voice from behind her. She ignored it. "Haruka, I know your awake."

Sighing once again, Haruka sat up and looked at her intruder. It was a young merboy with dark brown hair and teal eyes.

"What is it, Sousuke?" Haruka addressed the merboy, a little annoyed that she was disturbed.

Sousuke raised an eyebrow and lowered himself onto the seaweed next to her, the light-green scales of his tail shimmering in the water. "You've been quiet since you came back yesterday, well, more so than usual. Did something happen?"

Haruka studied the merboy for a few moments before her gaze slid past him and landed on the large coral reef that served as hers and Sousuke's home. It was beautiful and did its job well as a shelter. They even had two large oysters to sleep in. But Haruka couldn't help but think of the huge, solid buildings. Did the humans live in those? What were they like on the inside? Did they sleep in oysters, too? She had so many questions and no way to answer them. She let her eyes return to her closest friend.

"Have you ever been to the surface?" Haruka said this as casually as if commenting on the weather.

Sousuke looked at her as if she had two heads. "No; it's forbidden," then his eyes narrowed dangerously and he said, "Haruka, you didn't go up there, did you?"

Haruka almost said yes, but something stopped her. "I'm just curious,"

Still a little suspicious, Sousuke looked up into the seemingly endless vast of water, up towards where the surface lay. "I've never been up there, but that doesn't mean I'm not curious, either. But if the Elders heard us talking about it we'd be in trouble. Best not to dwell on things we'll never see, don't ya think?" He grinned, his eye's voicing a silent apology.

Despite knowing this was how it was going to end, Haruka couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Sousuke was somewhat of a troublemaker, and his reluctance to talk about something like the surface was puzzling. Slowly, Haruka pushed off the bed of seaweed and began to swim away.

"Where are you going?!" Sousuke called after her.

"Nowhere important."

Haruka stared up at the thin veil that separated sea and land. She wanted to breach it and see the sky again. Break the most important rule for a second time. Why, though? Didn't Haruka only care about swimming? Why then did she have such a strong desire to see the world above. To talk to that boy again... what was his name? Rin. Haruka wanted to talk to Rin and learn about his world. But she couldn't, not with this tail. No matter how much she wanted it...

Haruka gasped when she noticed her tail shining a radiant and blinding blue, and a burning, tingling sensation ran throughout her whole body. Then everything went black.

"Haru..." Who's voice was that? "Haru...!" So annoying... "Hey, Haru, are you alright?!" The owner of the voice was shaking her now.

Groaning, Haruka opened her eyes and was blinded by a bright light, immediately she closed them again.

"Haru?" The voice was softer now, concern seeped into it. A hand touched her shoulder. She looked up at its owner, letting her eyes adjust. A figure slowly came into focus. A boy with maroon hair and wine red eyes.

"Rin..."

"Haru!" Rin cried in relief, a smile breaking out across his face. "What happened? I found you passed out on the ground!"

Haruka furrowed her brow in confusion as she sat up, Rin helping her. The ground? What was he talking about? A sudden sense of panic surged through Haruka when she realized the situation she was in: She wasn't in water. Haruka quickly looked down at her tail, only to not find it. Instead she found two pale legs and feet, each completed with five toes of different sizes. She also noticed that instead of her seashells, she wore a light-blue dress that went down to just above her new-found knees. Haruka, a mermaid, had legs, feet, and toes! That was impossible! Only humans had these features as far as she knew. Could Haruka have turned into a human?

"I..." Haruka stuttered, unable to say anything. What was she going to do?!

Rin frowned. "Being barefoot and without a jacket in the middle of winter, not to mention swimming yesterday, no wonder you collapsed! C'mon, I'll take you home,"

Rin began to pull Haruka up but never having had legs before, she fell immediately. "I cant walk!" Haruka cried both afraid and desperately. This couldn't be happening. Yes, she had wanted to see the surface world, but turning into a human?! It was too much. She didn't even know how she did it!

Haruka wanted to go back, back to her oyster and coral reef and Sousuke. She wanted her blue fish tail back.

Rin looked almost as helpless as Haruka did. Worrying his bottom lip, Rin shrugged off his jacket and placed it around Haruka's shoulders. "Just tell me where you live and I'll take you. Okay, Haru? I'll take you home."

Haruka glared up at the boy. He couldn't take her home, it was hundreds of feet deep in the ocean, and neither him or her had fins! "I can't go home." She said at last.

Rin blinked. "Can't? But, won't your parents worry about you?"

It was Haruka's turn to blink. Parents? Merpeople didn't have parents. They were simply born. The Elders found the newborns and raised them. Mothers and fathers weren't necessary. Sousuke was the closest she had to family. Haruka frowned. So humans had parents, it seemed. That's fine. Merpeople we're the only ones to not have them, after all. "I don't have parents," she answered truthfully.

Rin's eyes widened. "So... you're an orphan?"

Orphan? Was this boy comparing her to a dolphin whose parents had died? "No, I just don't have any." She deadpanned.

Crossing his arms and scrunching his face, Rin gave a thoughtful hum. "Then it's decided," Rin declared, leaning in close and holding up a finger for emphasis. "You're coming home with me!"

... What?

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Hey, guys! Sorry it took so long for the second chapter. School and work has been killing me. Anyway, I hoped you liked it!


	3. A Fish Out of Water

Hey, guys! Sorry for the terribly slow updates. Please know that I have no intention of dropping this story, I just don't have any time for fanfiction... I'll always update eventually though, so thanks for staying with me!

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"Put me down!"

"No way."

"I said put me down!"

"And I said no way!"

Haruka frowned and pulled at Rin's hair from her position on his back. "Down."

Wincing, Rin turned his head to look at the girl he was carrying. He would have grabbed his head from the sudden pain, but doing so make him drop Haruka. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"You won't put me down,"

"That's because you can't walk!" The maroon-haired boy cried incredulously. "If I put you down you'll just fall again! I'm trying to help here."

That statement only made Haruka frown more and pull harder. "I didn't ask for your help. Idiot."

Rin ignored to tugging on his scalp and readjusted his grip on her thighs to make sure Haruka wasn't slipping. "My mom's a doctor," Rin began, his voice suddenly serious. "If anyone can do something about your legs, it's her. So just sit quietly for a bit, 'kay? You're so stubborn."

Says the boy who wouldn't listen to what I had to say, Haruka thought, miffed. Back at the dock, (at least that's what Rin called it) Rin had tried to pull Haruka up and make her walk. However, seeing as how Haruka had never been on land, let alone having legs and feet, she immediately fell over, her newly acquired limbs shaking both violently and uselessly. From there on the human boy had insisted that he carry Haruka to his home so his doctor mother (whatever a doctor is) could take a look at her to see if she was alright.

Haruka almost laughed at that. Alright? Of course she wasn't alright. She'd just been somehow turned into a human with no knowledge of how to change back, and now she was being taken away from the ocean by a human to a human residence. If anything Haruka was terrified.

"And above all, never venture towards the surface..."

Oh, how Haruka wished she had listened and obeyed and just swam away from the surface, back Sousuke and her oyster.

Swimming?

Haruka's world seemed to stop. How was she supposed to swim like this? The farther this human took her away from the ocean, the harder it would be to return. And like Rin said, she can't walk, and it's not like she could tell the boy to turn around and drop her back into the ocean without raising the question of why. And would she even be able to turn back? Haruka dearly hoped so.

Man, if she ever does make it back, Sousuke is never gonna let her hear the end of it...

"We're here."

Rin's voice cut through Haruka's train on thought and she snapped back to reality. They were standing in front of a large structure.

"Where...is here?" Haruka said whilst gaping up at it.

"We're at my house, silly," Rin teased as he walked up to the 'house'. "Gee, it's like you've never seen such a thing before!" He didn't know how true that was.

Before Rin could get very far, the house opened from a red panel in the front and a woman with the same maroon hair and wine red eyes came rushing out towards them looking flustered.

"Rin! I've been looking all over for you! Who's this girl?" The woman bombarded them with questions as she approached.

"Mom!" Rin called. "This is Haru, something's wrong with her legs. She can't walk!"

Well, that's not entirely wrong, Haruka thought. As the two conversed, Haruka took the time to look at the person Rin called 'mom'. They really did look alike. Sure, Haruka had seen resemblances like this between the sea creatures and their parents, but never to this extent. And what's more, Rin said he was twelve, most animals would have been abandoned by their parents by now, but Rin's mother still seemed content to fuss over her child as she guided her son inside and instructed him to put Haruka on something large, soft, and squishy. Haruka thinks she called it a couch?

"Haru."

There was that stupid shortened version of her name again. Was that last syllable really that hard? Despite being annoyed at the nickname, Haruka looked up to see Rin's mother kneeling in front of her.

"Yes?" She replied.

The woman smiled. "I'm Rin's mother Mrs. Matsuoka. Rin tells me that he found you unconscious and that you can't walk properly, may I do a check up?"

Haruka blinked. "Check...up?"

"Yes. I'm a doctor, you see. Taking care of peoples health is my job, so I would like to make sure yours is in check." Mrs. Matsuoka said gently.

A little confused and nervous, Haruka, for a reason she didn't understand, instinctively looked to Rin for assurance. Rin smiled brightly. As usual.

Looking Mrs. Matsuoka, (and refusing to acknowledge that she wasn't quite at nervous now) Haruka nodded and Rin's mother set to work. The woman shined lights in Haruka's eyes, check for any injuries, took her pulse, and lots of other things. After looking over Haruka's legs, Mrs. Matsuoka told her to stand and try to walk, and just like before, she fell almost instantly and had to be caught.

Mrs. Matsuoka frowned as she lowered Haruka back on the couch. "It's strange," the doctor muttered as if to herself. "Nothing I can see seems to be wrong with your legs, even your reflexes are in top condition, but it's as if you've been reduced to a newborn... Haruka, do you know what happened before you fell unconscious?" She asked with concern.

At this Haruka froze. She remembered an overwhelming desire to see the surface world and then a bright, shining light... then the next thing she knew Rin was shaking her and she had legs. But she couldn't say anything about that. Haruka swallowed as she thought of the punishment that awaited her if she ever made it home. Venturing to the surface was punishable by life confinement and other terrible things. However, if her true identity were to be revealed to a human... the death penalty would be unavoidable.

With hands slightly shaking, Haruka shook her head. "I don't..." She whispered, head held low to hide the turmoil in her eyes.

"Do you remember anything?"

Haruka shook her head again, this time more vigorously. Mrs. Matsuoka sighed.

"I see..." the woman began. "Haruka Rin mentioned that you are an orphan... is there any relative you can call?

Another shake of the head. "They..."

"Yes?"

"There are none."

Silence that seemed to last forever enveloped the three of them.

"Haru..."

Rin's soft voice sounded next to Haruka, and it was only then that she noticed he was sitting beside her. She looked up at the faces around her. Was not having a family that bad? She did have Sousuke and her dolphin friends. There were the elders too, despite how terrifying they could be. And it wasn't just them, either. There were the other merpeople in the ocean. So then... why were these people looking at her with such sad faces?

Just as Haruka opened her mouth to say something, a warm hand was resting atop her head in a comforting manner. It was Ms. Matsuoka. Haruka blinked. "Well," began the woman cheerfully, "if that's the case then you my stay here as long as you'd like, Haru. My home is always open to those who need a place to stay." The bright smile that she gave was so warm and so much like that of her son's that Haruka swore they were the same person.

"Rin," Mrs. Matsuoka said, directing her attention to he son and removing her hand.

"Yeah, mom?"

"Take Haru up to your room so she can rest before dinner. She must be tired."

"'Kay!"

And with that Mrs. Matsuoka stood and went somewhere else in the house, leaving to two kids alone. Haruka immediately felt the change of atmosphere and looked down at her lap. It wasn't until a certain boy's back came into her vision that she looked up again and blinked in confusion. "What are you doing?" She asked, bemused.

Rin looked up at her from over his shoulder from his squatting position. "Whataya mean 'what'? I'm carrying you of course!"

"No way." Haruka deadpanned.

Rin sighed. "Fine," he said sharply before standing up and turning to cross his arms at her. "Then you can walk up those stairs on your own."

Haruka followed the direction of his now pointing finger and saw the so-called "stairs". She swallowed. Looking back at Rin, she steeled herself and pushed off the couch. After some shaking and time to balance herself, Haruka took the first step...and immediately fell over, Rin catching her in his arms.

"I knew it." The boy stated as he steadied her once again. Haruka merely pouted, an embarrassed yet defiant blush on her cheeks that caused Rin to laugh. "It's fine! You're doing great! We'll have you walking in no time. Until then..." he said as he crouched down in front of her while facing the other way. He looked over his shoulder once more, his usual grin plastered on his face. "Lean on me?"

Haruka felt the blush on her cheeks become warmer. After opening and closing her mouth for a while like a fish out of water, (literally) Haruka glared at the wall.

"Do whatever you want." The mermaid relented, causing Rin's smile to get even bigger.

"Okay!"


	4. Don't Hold Your Breath

Hey there, guys! I know it's been a really long time since I last updated anything, but I really lost the drive to write for a long time. Not really an excuse, but I do feel bad for leaving you all hanging all this time. So here I am, hopefully back for good, with a new chapter. Please enjoy...

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Rin kicked open the door to his bedroom with a satisfying 'smack' as it hit the wall. Readjusting his grip on Haruka's legs, he carried her across the threshold of his room until he was able to lower her gently onto a large fluffy rectangle thing. Haruka assumed this was for sleeping, seeing as how this was Rin's room. Groaning as he stood up, Rin rubbed his back with an exaggerated look of pain on his face. "Gosh, Haru! Why are you so heavy? You're so small, but it's like you're made of solid rock."

Haruka glared as she got comfortable sitting on Rin's bed. "How should I know? You're the one who insisted on carrying me all the way up here." She ignored the part of her brain that supplied it was probably because she, like all merfolk, spent all their time swimming to get around. That, and ignoring the fact that she felt really thirsty all of a sudden.

Rin chuckled before turning to her, his usual smile tugging at his mouth. "Ah, well... it just means you're in shape! That's always a good thing. I'm in shape, too, because of all of my training!" He proclaimed with a sense of pride as he held up one of his scrawny arms as if to show off his muscle, his other hand grasping said arm's bicep.

Haruka raised an eyebrow at that. "Training?"

Rin nodded enthusiastically. "Uh-huh! I'm a swimmer! I spend hours every day training and perfecting my skill so that I won't lose to anyone. And one day I'm going to be the best swimmer there is!"

This caught Haruka's attention. Rin was a swimmer? This was finally something she was familiar with. Merfolk, not only having to swim all the time to get places because they lived in the ocean, held races at festivals and other gatherings to see who was the best "swimmer." Merchildren did this for fun as well, and Haruka herself was a frequent contestant in the events along with Sousuke. And, not that she really cared about the results of the races, only about the fact that they were an excuse to swim however fast she wanted and use the stronger currents that they were normally told not to, Haruka was almost always the victor. She wondered briefly if Rin was any good (as a human with legs and no tail anyway) at swimming. He did say that he trained hard and wanted to be the best.

"I see." Was Haruka's simple response.

Silence filled the room for a while, an almost content feel to it. Haruka played with the soft fabric beneath her, noting how warm and cozy it appeared to be. Did humans call this fabric? She didn't know. Oh well, not worth worrying about. She also didn't know what it was made out of, but she figured some kind of land plant. Merfolk themselves had one particularly soft fabric themselves called Ocean Silk. This is made from the silk from a kind of shrimp that spins the substance to hold together their sand-grain homes. The material is highly valued and Haruka has seen many beautiful dresses worn by older mermaids made from it when they become mature and no longer wish to swim around in the kiddie seashells young mergirls like herself wore at the moment. Even some mermen liked to have tunics made from the stuff. Now that Haruka thought about it, the simple dress that she wore now was made of Ocean Silk. How did she even get this dress? She wasn't wearing it before. Would she still have it when she turned back into a mermaid? There were so many questions that Haruka wanted answers to...

"Hey," Haru heard Rin say, snapping her out of her reverie, "I'm gonna go help mom with dinner, so you just stay here and get some sleep, okay? It should be about an hour or so, so make sure to yell if you need anything. And don't try to wander off on your own-you might hurt yourself trying to walk around when you can't!"

Haruka looked up at the boy whose face bore a serious expression. Part of her wanted to scoff and say she didn't need babysitting, but the other part new his worry was justified unfortunately. Sighing, Haruka scooted back on the bed, before slipping under the sheets and rolling so her back was facing the maroon-haired boy. "Fine."

"Promise me you won't try to get around on your own?" This human was relentless.

"I promise. Just leave already-I'm tired."

After another light laugh (and no doubt another blinding smile), Rin said he'd be back to check on her later and left the room. Once the door was shut, Haruka sighed yet again and rolled away from the wall onto her other side in order to take a look about the room. The room was of decent size, filled to the brim with junky looking toys and stuff. She saw many shining statues with '1st' written on them and little figures of humans doing what she supposed was swimming at the top. They looked funny to her, but Haruka assumed they were trophies of some kind. If the majority of them had the number one on them, she also assumed that Rin was actually good at swimming like he said earlier. That was good, she supposed. It meant the human wasn't a complete idiot. An idiot with apparent talent and a good heart, but still an idiot nonetheless in Haruka's books.

Dully, Haruka scanned the rest of the room. That is, until her eyes landed on the image of some sorts sitting on the small table next to the bed. The image contained a smiling man wearing some one piece getup and holding a rope. Haruka frowned. _Strange_, she thought._ He seems almost...familiar._

Deciding not to dwell on it, Haruka snuggled into the soft and warm bed, letting herself begin to doze off and attempt to ignore how thirsty she was all of a sudden.

* * *

Haruka awoke to the feeling of her throat burning. It felt like the room was boiling and her skin about to crack open. Something was wrong, she realized very quickly. Sitting up, Haruka tried to call out to Rin that she needed help, but the only sound that came out was the sound of her strained gasps as she tried to breathe. _Water_, she thought desperately, _I need water!_

Untangling herself from the sheets, Haruka hit the ground with a 'thud' as she attempted to make her way to the door. Haruka felt like she was dying. She couldn't walk, she couldn't talk, and her throat was in excruciating pain. It was like she swallowed a sea urchin or something. Trying to take her mind off the pain, Haruka focused dragging herself to the door. Upon reaching it, she reached up and fought with the knob trying to get it open. She needed water. She didn't know why, but she somehow knew that if she didn't get any she was going to die from this pain as it got worse. It was as if something in the back of her mind was telling her this. An instinct of some sort.

Finally managing to successfully swing open the door, Haruka searched the long hallway for something, _anything_ that could lead her to water. Again, that voice, that _instinct,_ so to speak, spoke, and Haruka found herself on all fours, and by some miracle managing to work those infernal new limbs and crawl to an open door a few yards to the left. The room was small and filled the bright colors and things Haruka had never seen before, but she wasn't paying attention. She _couldn't_ pay attention to anything but the small amount of water dripping out from a silver spout and into a large white tub on the floor. Gritting her teeth, Haruka clambered her way across the hard floor, desperate for relief from the burning that was suffocating her. When she pulled herself up to it, Haruka quickly stuck her head underneath the drip, eagerly trying to lap up the small amount. She could feel the water working, but wasn't enough. She needed more. Sitting back up, Haruka frantically searched her surroundings for a way to get more water to come out. Noticing the three knobs sticking out of the white wall, Haruka reached for the lowest one, the one closest to her, and turned it like she did the knob on the door to Rin's room. Water then began to pour forth from the spout, and Haruka once again stuck her head under the water flow, drinking whatever happened to make it into her mouth. Immediately, the burning in her throat and body subsided, and Haruka felt like she could breathe again.

When she felt satisfied, Haruka sat up and, leaning against the tub, sighed out of relief, the water dripping down her face and onto the floor. "What was that..." She whispered to herself, staring blankly at the stream of water as it fell into the tub, slowly filling it. Haruka had never felt that kind of pain or fear before in her life. Was it because she was a mermaid who was caught on dry land? If so, it would explain her need for water. Merfolk lived in the stuff. Being away from it so long had probably caused a reaction, and a very violent one at that.

Shaking her head, Haruka reached out and dipped her hand into the rising pool of water that was in the tub. Sticking her head under the water and drinking it helped calm whatever it was that was happening to her, but she wondered if that was enough. Did she need to completely submerge herself in water just in case? Would that make her turn back into a mermaid if she did? What if Rin or his mother happened to walk in and Haruka had a tail with fins? But could she even leave the little access to water she had at the moment and be okay? _I need to get back to the ocean..._ She decided, watching the way the way the water continued to rise.

Haruka was lost in thought when she heard a startled voice behind her and nearly making her jump out of her skin, "Haru? What's going on, we heard noises down stairs? Why are you sitting by the bathtub!?"

Haruka looked behind her to see Rin standing in the doorway, his face one of confusion and concern. She had to think of some sort of excuse for her actions quickly or else he might grow suspicious. "Uh..." she began dumbly, "I wanted water?" _Nice one, Haruka. Thinking fast verbally was never your forte._

Rin frowned and furrowed his brow. "Water?" He said while coming closer to the tub where she was. "If you wanted something to drink, you should have just asked. Did you crawl here? And why would you use the tub? The sink's right there!" Haruka swallowed, a nervous lump beginning to form in her throat. Rin walked over until he was looking down at Haruka, waiting for an explanation that she did not have. When it was apparent that she was not going to answer, however, Rin leaned down and reached towards the knob as if to turn off the water. "C'mon, I'll take you to the kitchen..."

Haruka panicked. What if she still needed it on? "Wait!" She exclaimed, jumping up as far as she could on unsteady legs to grab Rin's hand, stopping him from turning the knob.

"Haru!?" Rin said, surprised by her sudden exclamation and being knocked off balance when Haruka's teetering body slammed into his. "What's wrong!?"

"I need-!" Was all Haruka managed before she felt her legs give out and her body fall backwards.

Rin shouting her name was the last thing she heard before landing in the water-filled tub with a splash.


End file.
